UNITED NATIONS, New York – Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis shared with Fox News Digital his perspective as someone on the border of the Ukraine invasion, including concerns Russia can do “so much damage” even as its power wanes.

“In 2014, before the first war in Ukraine, people in the U.S. and … Western leaders would say ‘Russia is going down, it’s on its way down, its regional power – it’s not a global power anymore, its influence is waning,’” Landsbergis said. “But on its way down, it can do so much damage to its neighbors.” 

“It’s not the right assessment,” he added, saying that even if Russia were declining as much as Western leaders think, the death “convulsions” of such a great power could “last for decades.” 

“Who knows when or how it would stop … it’s a very difficult thing to imagine, to predict,” he said. 

NETANYAHU CALLS MIDEAST CONFLICTS CHOICE BETWEEN ‘BLESSING OR A CURSE,’ WARNS ABOUT ISRAEL’S ‘LONG ARM’

Lithuania has remained one of the most vocal nations in Eastern Europe throughout Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, even before the 2014 invasion of Crimea. Part of that has been to proudly embrace NATO’s role on the continent. 

While Lithuania fell far below the 2% required expenditure on defense in 2014, by 2021 – a full year before the invasion of Ukraine started – Lithuania had met the requirement and only continued increasing its defense expenditure.

CZECH FOREIGN MINISTER HIGHLIGHTS LACK OF EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP, FAILURE TO ‘PROJECT GEOPOLITICAL POWER’

Lithuania in 2023 hit 3.2% expenditure, making it one of the highest-spending (by percent of GDP) members of NATO after only Poland, the U.S., Greece and Estonia.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hold a joint news conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, on March 7, 2022. (Olivier Douliery/Pool via Reuters)

Landsbergis used this – and the general increase in defense spending among NATO members over the past two years – to argue that European countries have proven their ability to “muster strength” and stand up to a power of Russia’s size.

HUNGARIAN FM RECALLS STRONG TRUMP ADMIN ‘EXPERIENCE,’ CLAIMS ‘OUR HOPE IS ALL’ ON FORMER PRESIDENT

“Even the biggest critics should have to admit that more than $100 billion, now … I mean, it’s huge. Nobody really could have predicted that Europe would be able to do that,” Landsbergis said. 

Gabrielius Landsbergis (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images/File)

“The question is: Is that enough? And does that forbid such action against your neighbor like Ukraine to be repeated in the future?” he said. “This is where we see a problem that Europe needs to grow because every industry in Europe needs to step up with its spending towards defense.”

When pressed on whether Europe lacks clear leadership or has stagnated in recent years, Landsbergis disagreed but acknowledged that the union has room to improve.

“The union is structured with 27 members and each with a veto, right?” Landsbergis noted. “It’s difficult to have a smooth process that doesn’t require a lot of debate or consensus building.”

“This is the way that we are currently at this juncture. There’s talk about the need for reform,” he added. “I think that it … will be happening. Europe has to adapt to the new requirements of this age and time, and maybe the principles change as well.” 

Israel’s military says it has killed yet another high level member of Hezbollah with an airstrike on Sunday.

The IDF says the strike killed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, though they did not offer details on where the strike took place. The claim comes just days after an IDF strike killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel and Hezbollah have continued to fire barrages of missiles and rockets toward one another as they appear to be on the brink of all-out war.

Hezbollah began its offensive immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed or captured. Israel has responded by launching its own airstrikes and massing forces at its northern border with Lebanon.

NETANYAHU CALLS MIDEAST CONFLICTS CHOICE BETWEEN ‘BLESSING OR A CURSE,’ WARNS ABOUT ISRAEL’S ‘LONG ARM’

Israel was forced to evacuate some 60,000 citizens who were living near the border with Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the campaign against Hezbollah will not stop until those citizens can return safely to their homes.

ISRAEL TARGETS HEZBOLLAH LEADER NASRALLAH IN STRIKE ON BEIRUT HEADQUARTERS

Meanwhile, Hezbollah says it will only cease its hostilities once Israel has agreed to a cease-fire in Gaza, a deal that has proven almost impossible in recent months.

IDF profile picture showing Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah who the IDF confirmed was killed in a strike on Friday. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

Hundreds of thousands of people have likewise been driven from their homes in Lebanon. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told The Associated Press.

Israel has killed a slew of top Hezbollah and Hamas commanders with airstrikes throughout the conflict. 

On Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters, “The United States was not involved in Israel’s operation,” noting there was “no advance warning,” from the Israelis about the strike on Nasrallah.

An IDF information chart showing how it decimated the Hezbollah chain of command in recent strikes.  (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

Netanyahu cut short his trip to New York following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly where he warned Hezbollah about Israel’s right to go on the offensive.

“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.

The IDF later released a graphic suggesting that nearly all of Hezbollah’s top commanders have been killed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report